Abstract

At the rear of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is a small chapel known as the Prison of Christ. The Prison of Christ became a popular pilgrimage site for Latin
Christians during the Middle Ages, effectively providing a setting for Christ's captivity
during the Passion.
This article gives an account of the Prison's origins and its early development. It places
the 'invention' of the Prison in the context of the Crusaders' adaptation of pre-existing
local traditions at the Palestinian holy spaces. At the same time, the Prison reflected
western ideas about punishment, incarceration and the rise of Purgatory and
pilgrimage. The Crusaders' understanding of the Prison of Christ should thus be
considered within the burgeoning culture of imprisonment and tariffed penance in
western Europe.
The article then turns to pilgrimage writings and travel literature concerning the Prison
of Christ, to demonstrate the knowledge of the Prison amongst western Christians and
the uses they made of the site. It shows how the Prison was a canonical locus of the
pilgrims' route and was then itself incorporated into 'virtual pilgrimages' and itineraries.
This essay discloses how medieval sources consistently describe how Christ was held
in a prison. The history and use of the Prison of Christ reveals the interplay of western
ideas and eastern space. Pilgrimage writing shows how Latin Christians understood
and remade a holy site in Jerusalem, both culturally and materially.

Metadata

Item Type:

Article

Keyword(s) / Subject(s):

Jerusalem, pilgrimage, imprisonment, Palestine, medieval prisons, imprisonment, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, popular religion